(Center of the American Experiment) — The first prison sentence in the sprawling free-food scandal was handed down Tuesday afternoon in the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis.
Mohamed Jama Ismail, aged 51, defendant No. 16 in the case, was convicted of three felony counts in the courtroom trial that ended in June. Two of the counts involved conspiracy charges with his four co-defendants who were convicted. (Two others were acquitted at trial.) Ismail has not been implicated in the related juror bribery case.
Ismail arrived at court Tuesday morning clad in an orange-and-white-striped jail outfit and a light-gray cap. He was escorted by two Deputy U.S. Marshals.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 151 months. The judge allowed Ismail to claim 7 months for time served on a related passport fraud case, hence the 12-year sentence. The defense had argued for a prison sentence of less than two years.
After he exits prison, Ismail will serve three years on probation.
Ismail had been the co-owner of the now-closed Shakopee restaurant Empire Cuisine and Market, the restaurant at the center of his group of defendants.
The length of Ismail’s sentence hinged in large part on his personal culpability for the amount of money stolen by his group of defendants. Ismail’s lawyer argued for the amount of money Ismail personally pocketed (around $2 million) or the amount he was responsible for as a corporate officer of Empire (around $7 million).
On account of his conspiracy convictions, prosecutors argued for the total dollar amount stolen by the group which amounted to almost $48 million. Prosecutors referred to this exhibit from the fraud trial:
This exhibit puts the fraud figure at more than $42 million, after netting out the $5 million or so that conspirators actually spent on legitimate food purchases. As I understand it, as a convicted conspirator, Ismail is on the hook for the full amount, jointly and severally, with the others.
In exhibit N-3 above, you can see Empire Cuisine and Ismail’s name. Which brings up in my mind the question, “What about the others?”
In particular, what about those entities named above, where there were no charges brought? Under the heading of “Related Parties,” the first name to appear is Somali Community Resettlement Services (SCRS). Neither that nonprofit, nor anyone associated with it, was charged with or accused of any wrongdoing. Yet, the nearly $3 million received by SCRS factored into the sentence handed down against Mohamed Ismail Tuesday.
The next sentencing in the case has yet to be scheduled.
This article was originally published at Center of the American Experiment.
Bill Glahn
Bill Glahn is an Adjunct Policy Fellow with Center of the American Experiment.
